JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Authorities say a mid-Missouri couple is jailed
after being charged with repeatedly locking a 9-year-old boy in a closet for hours without food or water. Cole County authorities said 52-year-old Joseph Ciaveralla and 34-year-old Loretta Wilhelm, of Columbia, were charged Saturday after an investigation by state social workers.
Ciavarella is charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and Wilhelm is charged with abuse or neglect of a child. After the investigation, the boy and four other children were removed from the home. The defendants both denied the allegations.
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